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Huge oak tree in neighbour's garden
On 8/5/13 3:11 PM, Gus wrote:
"Lisa T" wrote in message ... My neighbour has a huge oak tree literally on my boundary fence. It's so massive that it takes all light from the middle section of my garden. The trees on my side (an apple and rowan tree) are bending, trying to look for light. My neighbour has let us cut the branches overhanging our property before. I have asked if we can take it down but she says she wants to keep it for 'shade' on her side. As a compromise, we agreed we could take the height down to the levels of the trees next to it, and leave the branches on her side as they are. I've consulted a tree surgeon who says he can make a good job of trying to make a compromise (without, in his words, "it looking like a helicopter has crashed into it"). My neighbour is now starting to get difficult and saying she "doesn't want a lot taking off" and that she doesn't want it "lop sided". When we had the overhanging branches taken off a couple of years back (with her blessing), she never said a word. Now she's saying he "cut off half the tree and didn't shape it". But, it didn't change the aspect on her side at all, just stopped the branches completely overshadowing our side. It it right that we have absolutely no right to take some of this tree down when it takes our light so badly? I'd never want to make it look ugly or odd, or to upset my neighbour. But frankly, I can't see how we can find a compromise if she won't allow us to cut the branches that overhang our property. It feels grossly unfair. This tree is about 30 feet high... My understanding is anything that comes over into your property is fair game for you to do with what you want. (Check with you City/County government to make certain.) I had a neighbors' tree hanging over my driveway and had a couple of their dead branches cut before they fell on someone or a car in the driveway. As a courtesy, I did tell them before hand. They actually seemed glad it was being done... They ended up cutting down the tree the following year since it was dying. The power company here comes by and butchers trees so they are not hanging over power lines. They literally cut a big V in some, and there are some where half the tree is just gone. Looks terrible. They claim that you can't shape a tree, it is actually unhealthy for it and have to cut the way they do. They give no notice to property owners, just show up one day and hack off limbs and then leave. In some areas, oaks are protected by law. A special permit is required even to trim them. In other areas, this is not so. If a permit is required and you don't have one, the fine can be as great as the value of the affected tree, which can be quite substantial. However, you should also check to see if sudden oak death (SOD, caused by the water mold Phytophthora ramorum) is a problem in your immediate area. It is now known not only on the Pacific coast of the U.S. but also in the U.K. If SOD is a problem in your area, you might even be able to get an order to remove the tree. Fortunately for me, SOD does not yet seem to be a problem either in my area or with valley white oaks (Quercus lobata). As to utilities trimming trees, I have see a large number of palms topped by the utility companies in my area; cutting off the top of a palm kills it. The trunks remain. As they dry, they can become horrific torches during even a minor wildfire (common in this arid area) and destroy all overhead wiring. I just cannot understand why the utilities do not cut the palms at ground level to avoid future problems. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
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